Nov. 05, 2022: Canada’s men’s and women’s teams looked strong today in phase 1 of the 2022 World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The women’s team had its opening match at the tournament on Saturday morning, beating Slovenia 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22).

"It was great to start the event with a win,” said women’s head coach Nicole Ban. "We haven’t seen Slovenia since the Tokyo Qualifier in Halifax in early 2020 and both teams have improved a lot. We were able to play through the first-game nerves and compete under pressure when it mattered. We will continue to build as we have two tough opponents tomorrow (Sunday).”

The women’s team has two matches tomorrow – first against the top-ranked U.S. in the morning and Iran at 7:30 pm local time.

The Canadian men’s sitting volleyball team opened with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-15) loss to Germany on Friday, but rebounded today with a sweep of Poland (25-23, 25-16, 25-22). The Canadians face Brazil on Sunday.

“In our second match, we made some great adjustments due to the pace of play that Poland’s veteran lineup showcased,” explained men’s head coach Jeff Smith. "Nasif Chowdhury came off the bench to be the catalyst in the 3-0 win. Everyone played well and stuck to the game plan. It was a great team win for this group and now we reset and plan for Brazil.”

• All matches are streamed live on World ParaVolley’s YouTube channel.
• Click here for Canadian Team rosters: https://volleyball.ca/en/news/sitting-volleyball-teams-looking-ahead-to-world-championships
• The official tournament updates can be found here: https://www.worldparavolley.org/2022-world-paravolley-sitting-volleyball-world-championships/

Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676